Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Greetings Dakkites,

I've been involved in GW stuff for many years, but took a break due to family/kids etc. I recently got back into 40k and made the blundering mistake of collecting a Necron army first... purely and simply because I could get them cheap from eBay. I found out after a month of playing that they're actually really, really poor.

I'm getting back into WHFB now, what better time than with the release of 8th, right? I'm eyeing up a couple of armies but I don't want to make the same mistake again. I'm interested in the following:

Warriors of Chaos
Undead (in one form or another)
Dwarves (Or 'Dwarfs' as it now says on the army list, what's up with that!)
Dark Elves

At first it'll just be for friendly play, but pretty soon I'll be looking at tournaments, too. I'd just like to know if any of the above aren't a reasonable choice for competitive play, or if there's any advice along the same lines that people could pass on.

Much appreciated, thanks for reading.

warriors are cheap to buy , but not the best in tourny
undead hard to play with
dwarves hard to play with
dark elves not a clue at all im affraid

when we looked around a CS all we saw was empire, deamons and vamp counts mainly.

8th edition is incoming and the army book updates not yet released or leaked. So this is only a rough estimate:

WoC: Low body count, competitive but most armies look similar (most options rarely taken). Maybe getting a bit worse with 8th.
Undead: Khemri perobably released next, maybe even October.
Vampires were 2nd best in 7th but got much worse in 8th due to dangerous sorcery (you don't want to lose Vampire or Necromancer), errata maybe essential.
Dwarfs were solid, but slow and not fun in 7th but got a huge boost because of new charge distances. Winner of 8th edition.
Dark Elves: maybe 3rd best in 7th, not overpowered but strong and highly variable in 7th, still stay strong in 8th.

BTW: Necrons are a fluffy army that will get a new Codex sometime, maybe next year.

The current WoC book is the worst they've ever made. The list is extremely inflexible and can only be played a few ways well. It's not a bad army, but not as competitive as some.

Undead took a hit in 8th but will still be a pretty sick army and extremely competitive.

People are thinking dwarves new mobility boost in 8th ed., combined with their sick as hell war machines, will be an army to reckon with.

Dark Elves are probably the strongest army in the game right now. They have it all, good war machines, solid magic, great infantry, and massively good shooting...

... plus hydras.

I think starting a Dwarf army would be a pretty solid choice for you to start 8th edition. Reliable basic troops with good stats and not to pricey in points either. I think some of the 7th edition starter sets are still available which can get you started at a reasonable price as well, good luck.

Thanks, guys. I appreciate the posts. I'm still chewing it over at the moment, but I'm thinking probably Dwarves or Dark Elves now.

I'll be playing doubles tournaments a lot, so another piece of the puzzle is what my team-mate wants to play... It's so nice to see a big list for compatible allies, unlike 40k!

I would have to agree that WoC won't be that good. Dark Elves will still be solid and Dwarves will be even better and can excel in combat or shooting. I disagree that VC will have trouble/danger with magic. Necromancers are cheap and can easily spam Invocation of Nehek over and over on 1 dice until they fail....then move on to the next. VC will be able to spam magic heavily and should be raising a lot more models back into the fray/new units. I think they got even better. Only time will tell.